i'm jim lehrer. >> brown: and i'm jeffrey brown. on the newshour tonight, we walk through the numbers and debate whether the government has the will and the way to kick-start growth. >> lehrer: then, judy woodruff reports on the official coming of mitt romney into the 2012 race for the republican presidential nomination. >> brown: ray suarez has the latest on the outbreak of a deadly mutant strain of e. coli, sickening hundreds throughout europe. >> lehrer: and we talk to jill abramson, named today as the first woman executive editor of "the new york times." that's all ahead on tonight's newshour. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> okay, listen. somebody s goto get serous >> i ink. >> we need renewable energy. >> ...renewable energy is vital to our planet. >> you hear about alternatives, right? wind, solar, algae. >> i think it's got to work on a big scale. and i think it's got to be affordable. >> so, where are they? >> it has to work in the real world. at chevron, we're investing millions in solar and biofu

i'm jim lehrer. >> brown: and i'm jeffrey brown. on the newshour tonight, one vote was a victory for republicans, the other for the obama administration. we get perspective from two veteran congress watchers. >> lehrer: then, margaret warner gets an update on the north dakota floods as the record water levels keep rising. >> brown: judy woodruff examines cracks in the republican party's longtime opposition to raising taxes to curb the budget deficit. >> we disagree with senator coburn's stated policy of raising taxes and spending it. >> if we don't, guess what's going to happen? we're going to be treated just like greece. greece is gonna-- greece is gonna be our model. >> lehrer: mark shields and david brooks provide their weekly analysis. >> brown: and ray suarez has a book conversation with pulitzer prize winning author oscar hijuelos about his new memoir, and how early success changed his life. >> sort of almost becoming a carnival act. you know, i sometimes felt like a freak. >> lehrer: that's all ahead on tonight's newshour. maj

i'm jim lehrer. >> woodruff: and i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, we ask why firms aren't hiring, and how much this slows the economic recovery. >> lehrer: jeffrey brown updates the continuing turmoil in the arab world. >> woodruff: plus, economics correspondent paul solman checks out how grover, elmo, and cookie monster are spending and saving their money. >> how does "sesame street" teach young children financial literacy, and particularly how to save? >> lehrer: and mark shields and david brooks analyze the week's news. that's all ahead on tonight's newshour. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> okay, listen. somebody has got to get serious. >> i think... >> we need renewable energy. >> ...renewable energy is vital to our planet. >> you hear about alternatives, right? wind, solar, algae. >> i think it's got to work on a big scale. and i think it's got to be affordable. >> so, where are they? >> it has to work in the real world. at chevron, we're investing millions in solar and biofuel technology to m

i'm jim lehrer. >> woodruff: and i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, senator reid also talked about afghanistan and the budget deal in our newsmaker interview. >> lehrer: then, we look at dissent in saudi arabia, as some women challenge strict male-only driving rules in the islamic kingdom. >> woodruff: margaret warner gets an update from steven greenhouse of "the new york times" about a labor dispute that pits the government against boeing, and washington state against south carolina. >> lehrer: mark shields and david brooks analyze the week's news. >> woodruff: and gwen ifill talks to human rights activist john prendergast and his "unlikely brother," michael mattocks, co-authors of a new book chronicling their unique bond. >> did you think who is this strange white guy taking me out in the street like this? >> in the beginning, yeah, but i really at that time didn't care because we was having so much fun. >> lehrer: that's all ahead on tonight's newshour. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> well, the be

i'm jim lehrer. >> ifill: and i'm gwen ifill. on the newshour tonight, david chalian walks us through the politics behind the posturing on spending cuts and raising the debt limit. >> lehrer: then, judy woodruff explores computer hacking and the impact cyber attacks have on government, business, individuals, and even the newshour. >> ifill: tom bearden reports on the scientific push to identify possible tornadoes sooner, get out warnings earlier. 6-top beardsley reports on the scientific push to identify possible tornados sooner and get out warnings earlier. >> lehrer: we look at the media spotlight on sarah palin's bus tour. >> ifill: and, jeffrey brown talks to trumpet player and band leader wynton marsalis about passing his love of jazz on to the next generation. >> lehrer: that's all ahead on tonight's newshour. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> okay, listen. somebody has got to get serious. >> i think... >> we need renewable energy. >> ...renewable energy is vital to our planet. >> you hear about alt

jim lehrer sat down with him at the pentagon a short time ago. >> lehrer: mr.retary, welcome. >> thank you. >> lehrer: i take it you support the president's decision on the afghan troop withdrawals? >> i do, i do. i think it provides the 2r507s-- we've had a lot of success in accomplishing our mission. we have more work to do. we still have more than half the fighting season this year to go. and this gives us most of next year to both beat back the talib further but also improve the quality and quantity of the afghan security forces. >> lehrer: in the final analysis, as that a difficult decision for the president to make? were there many options on the table for him to choose from? >> there were. there were. in fact, general petraeus himself offered at my request the number of options that began as early as next july, a year from this july. and running into 2013. so the president had a wide array of options in front of him. >> lehrer: did you have an option? was there a gates option? >> to the going in, no. i-- i was listening and paying attention. and. >> lehr

news hour with jim lehrer there were three hundred ninety three interviews done around war only three were that the world leaders three of almost four hundred when half the population was opposed to the invasion that is no longer mainstream media that's an extreme and in the drums for war a recent new york times report says the media got right in bed with the pentagon to promote the war former military officers would get talking points directly from the pentagon and say them on the air no questions asked if a certain standard that is needed. talking point imagine in iraq ruled by the knesset yabbies to be in iraq imagine iraq and a country talking point link iraq to iran i believe iran is now the number one credit maker in iraq that's bad enough but a lot of these pentagon pundits were making big money from defense contracts to the t.v. and the radio. ties to military contractors people who could possibly be making money . most would consider that a potential conflict of interest maybe not even potential at the same time reporters who did ask hard questions were punished by the white

when i watch the evening news with jim lehrer, i never know what i'm going to get, because it's alwaysng to be a conversation that has multiple perspectives. you know, it's not one of those tv stations where you turn it on, you know exactly what you're going to get, whether you're going to get the left or whether you're going to get the right, whether you're going to get conservative or whether you're going to get liberal. yes, and it's a little messy. it's messy, exactly. but it's a bigger picture of the truth. and if you count on public television for a bigger view of the truth, we are counting on you right now to put your financial support behind this station. call us. call that number on your screen right now. you're going to feel great about it. when you call the number on your screen and connect the program back to the station that brought it to you, you're letting us know that this program resonates with you and that it is a dialogue that you would like to continue as we continue learning together here on public television. our ways of saying thank you for your support begin at

on thursday, jim lehrer interviews outgoing secretary of defense robert gates about the troop drawdown in afghanistan and more. i'm judy woodruff. >> ifill: and i'm gwen ifill. and we'll be back again here and online tomorrow evening. thank you and good night. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org does the firste of minutes, maybe, and this gives me a lot of ideas because he has idea i would never have. never. and so i start thinking and developing the thing, and he doesn't like what i did. so he changes what i did, and then i don't like what he did. and this is building and building up and up until we find

on thursday, jim lehrer interviews outgoing secretary of defense robert gates about the troop drawdown in afghanistan and more. i'm judy woodruff. >> ifill: and i'm gwen ifill. and we'll be back again here and online tomorrow evening. thank you and good night. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

what you sigh when you turn on the show and watch, you see the people who are on the air, you see jim lehrer, jeffrey brown, margaret warner, but the truth is, there are so many other people who it takes to make the show happen. we have producers. we have reporters. there are writers, researchers, people who answer the telephones, people who get our files organized so we can ask the right questions when we go on the air. it takes a small army, not to mention the people in the controlroom, the camera men and women. the tape editors. there are so many people. this is very much a group production. we couldn't do it without the many people whose offices are right here along the way that you see behind me. they are here in the morning until late at night and when they go home at night, they continue to work on this program because we all care about the product and we care about what we're able to bring to you. that's why your support is so important to us. in getting the pbs newshour on the air every day.ur >> the pbs newshour stands head and shoulders above the rest and i'm sure like us, you hav